The Wolves finally got back in the win column with a 127–117 win over Golden State, which after the last stretch of games felt pretty good. This was one of those matchups where Minnesota has burned fans before by playing down to the competition, so seeing them come out looking organized early was a nice change.
Anthony Edwards really set the tone with how he approached the game. Instead of forcing shots early he leaned into playmaking and getting teammates involved. When Ant does that the offense opens up and he eventually finds his scoring lanes anyway.
Ant still ended up doing Ant things, finishing with 42 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists on 13-for-22 shooting, hitting 4 threes and going 12-for-12 at the line. Efficient, aggressive, and mostly in control of the game.
Minnesota shot 56.1% from the field and 40% from three while piling up 25 assists, which usually means the offense is moving the way it should.
Rudy Gobert had a strong offensive night with 18 points and 9 rebounds on 5-for-5 shooting. A lot of that came from good setup passes. Ayo Dosunmu finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and several of those were great dishes to Rudy around the rim. When Rudy is getting the ball in good spots like that the offense looks a lot smoother.
Seeing more of Ayo and Bones Hyland would not be the worst thing either. Bones gave the Wolves 11 points in about ten minutes and knocked down three threes, bringing pace and energy to the second unit.
Another wrinkle that stood out was Minnesota letting Anthony Edwards operate from the post. The Wolves had Ant backing defenders down and creating from the low block, which is something we really have not seen much of this year. It looked comfortable for him and forced the defense to react in ways they normally do not against Minnesota.
Golden State still hung around longer than they should have. The Warriors ended up taking 98 shots compared to Minnesota’s 82, mostly because of extra possessions and second chances.
Now we get to Julius.
The very first points the Wolves gave up came from him not boxing out Brandin Podziemski. Podziemski slipped inside, tipped the rebound out to a teammate, and a few seconds later it turned into a Warriors second-chance three. That kind of thing has been happening way too often. Missed box outs, losing cutters off ball, getting dragged into pick-and-roll actions and reacting a step late.
The turnovers showed up again too, and when he is not creating for anyone the possessions just stall.
Randle finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 26 minutes, and Chris Finch said earlier this week the offense needs Julius to be about 60% playmaker and 40% scorer.
Right now he’s 100% liability.
Finch did make a notable move early in the fourth by sitting him, which helped the Wolves settle things down and close the game out.
The win is nice, but a team with championship aspirations cannot feel great about giving up 117 points to what was basically a Warriors G-League roster. Golden State was missing most of its core and still managed to generate a ton of looks and second chances. That is the kind of thing that gets punished by real playoff teams.
Next up is Oklahoma City, which will be a much bigger test. It will be interesting to see if Finch tweaks anything with the rotation or roles going into that game.
Maybe a slightly smaller role for Julius.
A girl can dream right?
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